


The Desperate Maiden

by IM_Boone



Series: Alternate Fairy Tales [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Family, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Sister-Sister Relationship, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26245480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IM_Boone/pseuds/IM_Boone
Summary: In desperation for a quick, temporary solution a maiden learns how greed and inconsideration can turn dreams to dust and flow into thin air.
Series: Alternate Fairy Tales [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/835281





	The Desperate Maiden

Once there was a maiden who lived in a cabin in the middle of the woods. She lived with her father, mother and two younger sisters. Her father was a lumberjack who she helped running the business once she was old enough, for she had no brothers to pass it down.

However, times were hard. The summer was getting hotter with the sweltering heat making it harder to sell more lumber. To make matters worse, the maiden's mother to no avail tried to marry her off, only for suitors to turn heel. The maiden was smart, beautiful and strong which intimidated many. So much so, the mother gave up on her to focus on your youngest daughters.

One particularly hot afternoon, the eldest maiden was gathering extra tree branches to exchange to craftsmen across the way. In the corner of her blue eyes, she saw a faint glow. Lowering herself to the brambles, the eldest daughter found the most peculiar sight. A gray fairy with dull eyes and wilting wings like dried up leaves. Tears like droplets upon a damp spider's web trickled from sullen, wide eyes as she looked up at the human warily. Scared, the fairy folded her legs to her torso, hugging herself.

Surprised and then, scheming, the eldest maiden saw prosperity in the fairy. If the magic could be harvested then her and the family's troubles would be over!

Despite the fairy's futile attempt to get away, using her magic to teleport, the maiden gathered the small creature in her apron pocket. With a renewed sense of purpose and a spring in her step, the eldest maiden quickly went on her way home.

The youngest sister had a water pail upon her head, no doubt just came back from the well. Seeing her sister, the eldest blue-eyed maiden brightened as she went over to her. Excitedly, she revealed the fairy in her apron.

"Sister! Look, here's the answer to our troubles! We'll save the family business and mother will not have to force you or Bethany to marry! You can live the lives we deserve!"

However, looking into the pocket the hazel hues of the youngest sister narrowed and her hopeful smile turned downward. Looking up at her sister, she scolded affrontedly.

"Why would you play such a cruel prank Emilee? You know what mother says about doing that sort of thing!"

"But Annie, do you not see the fairy nestled in my apron?" Emilee inquired, looking confused.

"I see nothing but space and fabric. Stop playing and let's go home!"

Outside of the fact it was Annie of all the family that was scolding her, Emilee could not understand how she only saw the fairy, yet it was completely out of plain sight from her sister. Undeterred, Emilee joined Annie back in their home, where Emilee showed the fairy again to Bethany and then her mother. The reactions were all the same. Bethany sniffed uncommittedly and her mother scolded her much like how Annie did, but an added comparison to the younger.

"You are too old and responsible to play these tricks, not even Annie would commit such a deed!"

There was a resounding protest from the youngest sister, but father shushed her from further complaint.

In a huff, Emilee stomped away from her family's cabin and back into the woods, taking the wilting fairy out from her pocket.

"Why can they not see you?! Why am I the only one that can?!" Emilee demanded.

Slowly, the fairy started to evaporate, her last wing began to fall, her eyes dimmed into dark holes, her dress unravelled before Emilee's eyes. In her last breath, the fairy said the following:

"Your desperation has blinded you to look for quick solutions, making you greedy and unkind to the very things that needed nothing but tenderness. Fall for the glamour of quick and fast schemes and you will lose the last bit of innocence you have. Before then, they will all crumble into dust and be wiped away into thin air."

And just like the fairy said, her body disintigrated into dust and was wiped out from Emilee's hands into the air.


End file.
